Having the right refrigeration system is important for keeping food fresh and preventing supermarkets from losing money on wasted food. However, these systems also use a lot of energy and require regular maintenance, which can be costly.
The ideal supermarket refrigeration system should be:
That brings us to evaluate CO2, a supposedly “natural” refrigerant that, despite having low GWP, falls short on several other factors that are important to supermarket refrigeration. These include:
Installation
Switching to CO2 refrigeration system can be disruptive and costly. It requires entirely new equipment because CO2 -based refrigeration systems function at high pressures, and as a result, need costly components that must withstand high pressure conditions.
Excess Leaks
When a leak occurs in a CO2 refrigeration system, it is very rapid due to the high pressures of CO2 . Furthermore, there is no recovery equipment for CO2, meaning repairs often lead to complete system discharge.
Maintenance
Unlike HFO-based systems, CO2-based refrigeration systems are complex and difficult to repair, and demand specialized skills and capabilities. This makes finding qualified technicians a real challenge. There are also concerns regarding whether a refrigeration system running at such a high pressure will have as long a lifespan as a traditional system.
Sporadic Supply
CO2 refrigerant has significant short-term supply and pricing challenges. As we move away from using fossil fuels, there will be less CO2 produced from industrial activities. This means we will need to purposefully produce CO2 refrigerants to meet our needs. This will impact the supply and significantly drive up the production cost of refrigerant-grade CO2 .
Energy Efficiency
More than 95% of a typical supermarket’s lifetime greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are generated through the system's energy consumption (scope 2 emissions), according to a lifecycle comparison of CO2 refrigerants versus low GWP HFO-based refrigerants. Meanwhile, the emissions from refrigerant leaks (scope 1 emissions) have a significantly lower contribution of less than 5%.1 Because commercial refrigeration CO2 systems are less thermodynamically efficient, they consume 20% more energy than HFO-based systems, which dominate the overall lifecycle GHG impact.
Reliability
Stores using higher-pressure CO2-based systems must take precautions to ensure they can survive a power outage. During a power outage, refrigeration systems warm to ambient conditions. You need a backup generator and a refrigeration unit that uses HFO/HFC or CO2 refrigerant on site. If the leak is not fixed quickly, the entire system could be down for a while. This could put food safety and quality at risk.
It's time to reassess CO2-based systems and consider a transition to low GWP refrigerants such as Solstice® HFO and HFO blends.
Being a sustainable supermarket is now easier with Solstice® HFO-based refrigerants for low-and-medium temperature applications
Solstice® L40X (R-455A)
- Mildly flammable (A2L), HFO-based refrigerant for supermarkets with a GWP of 146
- Offers higher efficiency and is a close capacity match to R-404A, an extended operating envelope when compared to propane or air-conditioning refrigerants, and high energy efficiency
- Usage: New Systems
Choose Solstice® Refrigerants for your supermarket instead of CO2 and start your journey to a lower carbon future
Customer Success Stories
Edeka — Erxleben, Germany Installed Solstice® L40X in November 2020 and achieved the following benefits:
- 30% savings on electricity and heating costs compared to central refrigeration systems
- 40% lower energy consumption than plug-in refrigeration units without heat recovery
- 35% lower investment costs than a comparable CO2 refrigeration system
Meet us at FMI E&Sd 2024
Supermarkets are under pressure to sell more, spend less, and follow regulations about using sustainable refrigerants. While grocers evaluate their options, there is much more to consider than regulatory compliance alone. Connect with our refrigeration experts and business leaders at FMI E&Sd, 2024 in Baltimore to discuss more.
1Based on Honeywell eco-efficiency simulation for 20 year period
2Technology Options for Low Environmental Impact Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Systems, ORNL/TM- 2023/3041, Pub200582.pdf (ornl.gov